A transit car may include a workstation table disposed between facing seats. If the transit car abruptly decelerates, for example, because of an accident, a passenger in one of the seats facing the direction of the movement of the transit car could suddenly be thrust into the workstation table. The impact of the passenger with a tabletop of the workstation table may seriously injure the passenger unless the table is able to absorb the energy of the moving passenger. One type of energy absorbent table includes a tabletop that deforms or collapses when an edge of the table is struck with sufficient force. A locking mechanism may be installed in such a table that prevents unintended deformation of the tabletop that may occur, for example, when the passenger is navigating around or bumps into the table, but that releases when the table encounters an inertial force such as a sudden deceleration or acceleration. After the lock is released, the tabletop may deform if the passenger impacts the tabletop with a force sufficient to injure such passenger unless absorbed by the table.